Pew Sheet, Sunday, June the 30th 2024. Fifth Sunday after Trinity / Proper 8
There is something wonderfully refreshing about our Gospel reading this week. For some time now, we have been reading how Jesus, often busy and harassed continuously by the crowds seeks quietness and solitude, even crossing the Sea of Galilee in order to do so, though this was sometimes not itself without mishap as we heard last week. Today, we hear once again that Jesus has crossed to the other side of the sea. It doesn’t seem to be the same crossing, so perhaps Jesus and the shaken disciples returned to the point they had set out from after the storm and ventured out again the next morning. We do not know for sure, but the inference is that it was a separate crossing though quite soon after the one we heard about last week.
Once there, Jesus is immediately approached by the leader of the local synagogue (which would have been something of a Jewish outpost on that predominantly Gentile shore) to come and heal his daughter who is dying, and Jesus, full of compassion for the man and his family immediately sets out to do so. There is no hesitation or equivocation at all. But on the way, he is aware of the sensation that someone in the crowd has drawn some of his healing power from him, and the incredulous disciples are at a loss to see how he could know this given the many crowding around and touching him. One can almost feel the woman’s embarrassment as she has to confess that it was she who had touched him in the hope that it would stem her bleeding.
According to the Torah or Law of Moses, she should not have been out of the house at all, because her bleeding made her ritually unclean, and she certainly ought not to have been touching a busy Rabbi or teacher, as this would have rendered them ritually unclean as well. But Jesus, on hearing her story, uses that same term of endearment, “daughter” for the woman which the leader of the synagogue had only just used in relation to his young child when asking Jesus for help; and the woman is told that her faith has made her well again. I often wonder though, what the leader of the synagogue’s reaction to that woman might have been had Jesus not been there? Would he have allowed her to touch him as she had touched Jesus? Most probably not, and he may even have castigated her for being out of her house and thus ‘polluting’ those she encountered there for good measure. It was another ‘teachable moment’ not only for the disciples, but for the leader of the synagogue as well.
Moments later, we hear that the girl has died, and can imagine the anguish, and anger perhaps in the heart of the distraught father. If only they had not been interrupted. If only Jesus had got there on time. That foolish and disobedient woman had cost him his daughter’s life. And yet, on arriving at the house and seeing the dead girl, Jesus immediately does something else which contravenes the strict religious purity code of his day. He takes the hand of the dead child, and thus voluntarily renders himself ritually unclean for 7 days (Numbers 19:11), for not even a priest was allowed to touch the dead flesh of another person, even his mother or father (Leviticus 21:11), but in spite, or perhaps because of this, the little girl immediately awakes.
We often read these stories as examples of the great faith shown by those who came to Jesus requesting healing or a miracle of some sort, and indeed they are. But the events in today’s reading also show us something else. They show us that the antecedent to faith is the compassion and grace of a God who not only hears and responds to those who seek his help, even when ‘interrupting’ him, and is perfectly happy to get his hands dirty in doing so!
Collect
Almighty God,
Send down upon your church the riches of your Spirit,
and kindle in all who minister the gospel,
your countless gifts of grace,
through Jesus Christ Our Lord.
Lamentations 3:23-33
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’
The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him.
It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
It is good for one to bear the yoke in youth, to sit alone in silence
when the Lord has imposed it, to put one’s mouth to the dust
(there may yet be hope), to give one’s cheek to the smiter,
and be filled with insults. For the Lord will not reject for ever.
Although he causes grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not willingly afflict or
grieve anyone.
2 Corinthians 8:7-11
Now as you excel in everything: in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness, and in our love for you, so we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking. I do not say this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love against the earnestness of others. For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.
And in this matter I am giving my advice: it is appropriate for you who began last year not only to do something but even to desire to do something. Now finish doing it, so that your eagerness may be matched by completing it according to your means.
Mark 5:21-end
When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered round him; and he was by the lake. Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet and begged him repeatedly, ‘My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.’ So he went with him.
And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. Now there was a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, ‘If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.’
Immediately her haemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ And his disciples said to him, ‘You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, “Who touched me?” ’ He looked all round to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.’
While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, ‘Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?’ But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, ‘Do
not fear, only believe.’ He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. When he had entered, he said to them, ‘Why do you weep and make a commotion? The child is not dead but sleeping.’ And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him; and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, ‘Talitha cum’, which means, ‘Little girl, get up!’ And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. He strictly ordered them that no one should know this and told them to give her something to eat.
Please pray this week for:
Integrity, truth, and dignity to prevail in the coming election. Pray too for the members of General Synod which meets in York from the 5th to the 9th of July, that dignity, truth and integrity will prevail there as well!
This Week’s Events
Monday (Henry, John, and Henry Venn the younger, priests, 1797, 1813, 1873)
Bell ringing at 7.30pm in St Laurence. Contact Jan on 07835 461361.
Tuesday
Zoom Morning Prayer at 9am ID: 748 9970 4493 Password: Trinity or contact Didier on [email protected]
Daytime Bible Group (2nd and 4th Tuesdays) contact Paula: 07722 808 988.
Evening Home Groups, contact Jo on 07803 942 687.
Wednesday (Thomas the Apostle)
Morning Coffee from 10.00-11.45 in the St Laurence Rooms.
Midweek Holy Communion at 12 noon, St Laurence Church.
Friday
Junior Choir at 6.30 pm followed by full Choir Practice at 7.30pm. Contact Derry on [email protected] if you would like to know more.
Saturday (Sir Thomas More and John Fisher, Reformation Martyrs, 1535)
Great Horwood Fête and Dog Show, 1-4pm on the Green, Great Horwood.
Repair Café, 10-12 am St Laurence Room, Third Saturday of the month only. If you have skills you would like to share, please contact Jo on 07803 942 687.
Pastoral Care
Steve is on leave from the 4th to the 18th of July. Please call the usual number: 07305 271148 and the churchwardens will pass any urgent calls on as needed.